Control Apparatus and Method for Sharing Information in a Collaborative Workspace

Abstract

A method and system of controlling display of information from a plurality of video sources on at least one presentation space, the method comprising the steps of providing at least first and second selectable control interfaces, each interface including a separately selectable control associated with the at least one common display screen presentation space and a selectable off control, uniquely associating video sources with the control interfaces, for each control interface (i) receiving an indication each time the selectable control is selected and receiving an indication each time the selectable off control is selected, (ii) upon receiving an indication that the selectable control has been selected, providing the video source associated with the control interface to the presentation space; and (iii) upon receiving an indication that the selectable off control has been selected, cutting off the video source from the presentation space.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 912,442 which was filed on Jun. 7, 2013 and which is titled “Personal Control Apparatus And Method For Sharing Information In A Collaborative Workspace” which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 474,670 which is titled “Personal Control Apparatus and Method For Sharing Information In A Collaborative Workspace” which was filed on May 29, 2009 and which was also a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 481,436 which is titled “Collaboration Method And Apparatus” which was filed on May 25, 2012, each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]Not applicable.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention relates to the presentation of audiovisual information via one or more large format common displays in a collaborative workspace and more ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0027]In some cases a separate indicator is associated with each of the selectable controls, the method further including the step of modifying the appearance of an indicator upon selection of a selectable control associated with the indicator. In some embodiments each of the indicators is capable of indicating each of three different states, the method further including the steps of causing an indicator to indicate a first state when no video source is associated with a corresponding control interface, a second state while a video source is associated with a corresponding control interface and while the associated selectable control remains unselected and a third state while a video source is associated with a corresponding control interface and while the video source is provided to the display screen presentation space associated with the selectable control that is associated with the indicator.

[0028]Some embodiments include a method of selecting information from video sources to be displayed on at least a subset of a plurality of display screen presentation spaces in a collaborative workspace, the method for use with a plurality of portable computing devices, each computing device having a computing device display screen, each computing device providing a separate video source that presents images on the display screen of the computing device, the method comprising the steps of on each display screen of the plurality of portable computing devices, providing a control interface in addition to images from the video source provided by the computing device, each control interface including a separately selectable control uniquely associated with each of the display screen presentation spaces and a selectable off control, for each control interface, receiving an indication each time one of the selectable controls is selected and receiving an indication each time the selectable off control is selected, for each control interface (i) while one of the display screen presentation spaces displays information other than images from the video source associated with the control interface, upon selection of the selectable control associated with the one of the display screen presentation spaces, providing the video source associated with the control interface to the one of the display screen presentation spaces so that the video source generates images on the one of the display screen presentation spaces and (ii) upon receiving an indication that the selectable off control has been selected, cutting off the video source associated with the control interface from the each of the display screen presentation spaces.

[0029]In some cases the method further includes the steps of, for each control interface, while one of the display screen presentation spaces displays information from the video source associated with the control interface, upon selection of the selectable control associated with the one of the display screen presentation spaces, cutting off the video source associated with the control interface to the one of the display screen presentation spaces. In some cases more than one of the selectable controls on each of the control interfaces can be selected to present images from the video source associated with a control interface simultaneously on at least two of the displays screen presentation spaces that are associated with the selected selectable controls.

[0030]In some embodiments selection of a selectable off control on one of the control interfaces has no affect on video provided to the display screen presentation spaces via others of the control interfaces. In some embodiments the control interfaces are provided along edges of the computing device display screens so that the images generated by the video sources on the computing device display screens are substantially unobstructed by the control interfaces. In some cases the plurality of display screen presentation spaces are arranged relative to each other and, wherein, the selectable controls on each control interface are arranged relative to each other in a fashion which mimics the arrangement of the plurality of display screen presentation spaces.

[0031]In some embodiments a separate indicator is associated with each of the selectable controls, the method further including the step of modifying the appearance of an indicator upon selection of a selectable control associated with the indicator. In some cases each of the indicators is capable of indicating each of three different states, the method further including the steps of causing an indicator to indicate a first state when no video source is associated with a corresponding control interface, a second state while a video source is associated with a corresponding control interface and while the display screen presentation space associated with the selectable control presents images from a source other than the video source associated with the corresponding control interface and a third state while a video source is associated with a corresponding control interface and while the video source is provided to the display screen presentation space associated with the selectable control that is associated with the indicator.

[0032]Some embodiments include a system for controlling display of information from a plurality of video sources on at least one common display screen presentation space in a collaborative workspace, the system comprising at least first and second selectable control interfaces, each interface including a separately selectable control associated with the at least one common display screen presentation space and a selectable off control, first and second video sources uniquely associated with the first and second control interfaces, respectively, a processor programmed to perform the steps of, for each control interface (i) receiving an indication each time the selectable control is selected and receiving an indication each time the selectable off control is selected, (ii) upon receiving an indication that the selectable control has been selected, providing the video source associated with the control interface to the common display screen presentation space and (iii) upon receiving an indication that the selectable off control has been selected, cutting off the video source associated with the control interface from the common display screen presentation space.

Problems solved by technology

Though straightforward and simple, having to repeatedly disconnect and connect the cable from one laptop computer to another takes time and is disruptive.

Further, known such arrangements do not provide a quick and intuitive indication as to which presenter is sharing their information via the video display screen.

As a result, meeting presenters and participants may experience confusion and delay between transitions.

Such user experiences may result in a loss of productivity and in general, can be significant impediments to the successful collaboration between conference participants and willingness of participants to use the system.

Thus, while solutions for managing and controlling the flow of information from interconnected computing devices have been developed, known solutions do not provide simple and intuitive steps for selecting which information is shared via the video display and for indicating which of several video / audio resources currently control presented information.

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